Strange clothes in my house

Upon hearing that we are expecting our first girl, Steph (who just happened to be at Babies R Us at the time) bought me my first girl clothes. Every time I see them, I'm a little stunned. I am so used to stripes, solids, plaids, dinosaur t-shirts, sweater vests and denim overalls around here.

Mary's Meme

1. Favorite Summer Drink - Well, I have 2 favorite drinks. I love sweet tea and a nice glass of lemonade with strawberries.
2. Worst Part of Summer - hmmm...Let me think. Oh, I really hate when I'm in bed at night with the windows open, the ceiling fan on high and the room is still stuffy and hot.
3. Best Part of Summer - our more relaxed schedule...the sun not completely setting until after 9pm....picnics...lemon pound cake...gardening...strawberries!
4. Favorite Shopping Experience - I love spending a big chunk of time on Amazon, but I enjoy looking at fabrics and dreaming up new quilts and yarn too!
5. What I'm Reading - Oh, there's quite a stack on my nightstand, but currently I'm reading Save the Males, Austenland, Raising Unselfish Children in a Self-Absorbed World and How the Heather Looks: A Joyous Journey to the British Sources of Children's Books
6. What I'm Praying About - for my baby girl!
7. What I'm Currently Knitting - Well, right now, I'm thinking about sewing all of these garter stitch rectangles together to create a blanket for Paul. I'm pretty sure this will be the last time I knit a blanket in this fashion as I'm not looking forward to assembling all of my rectangles. I'm looking forward to something more challenging after this...perhaps something from Mary's book?
8. What I'm Currently Writing - lessons plans for Luke and well, this blog post!
9. Where My Time Has Been Focused Lately - all over...I'm thinking about all my sewing, knitting and crochet projects that I need to finish. I'm thinking about my little garden with strawberries, cherry tomatoes, carrots and hopefully pumpkins! I'm thinking about my lesson plans for Luke's new school year come September 2 and of course the new baby arriving at the end of November. I'm also enjoying having my husband home while he's on his sabbatical. Oh, I'm thinking about my jam plan as well. I'm also reading this book for my jam plans. Since I'm talking about food, I guess I've been thinking about making this pie from Alton Brown too. There are too many yummy sweet things to bake during the summer!

10. Favorite Quote of the Day - Well, I don't have a quote, but a short poem. Is that okay?

I guess I'm breaking the rules, but here's a poem by Emily Dickinson.

I never saw a moor,

I never saw the sea;

Yet know I how the heather looks,

And what a wave must be.

I never spoke with God,

Nor visited in heaven;

Yet certain am I of the spot

As if the chart was given.

From this poem came the title for one of the books I'm currently reading, How the Heather Looks. This book is perfect for the literature-loving homeschooling family. Anyone who loves British children's literature will love this and see an adventure among living books!!

Thanks Mary! It was fun!

I finished a project!

I finally finished this quilt today. I've had the topper done for the last two years or so. Usually, I start to lose my quilting momentum after I've finished assembling the quilt top. In this case, we moved and I packed away all of my sewing projects and they stayed packed away until recently. The above photo is the back of the quilt.

Here's a close-up. I made this quilt using a bunch of scraps from other projects. So, it is a bit bright and a bit crazy, but I enjoy the overall effect.


Here is the finished project! Now, I've set a deadline of August 31 to finish the rest of my unfinished projects. I still have to complete a small baby quilt for my friend Stephanie's new baby (again, I've finished sewing the topper and yes, I've lost the momentum for now), a crocheted octopus that was supposed to be for Sammy's 3rd birthday (in April!!) and a stack of knitted rectangles that need to be sewn together to create a blanket for Paul. Anyway, this quilt is for my niece, Cecilia. I love the part when I get to give something homemade away and I get to do that today!

What I discovered at my 20 week ultrasound today

....That I need pink!

Nature Walk

My husband just began his work sabbatical this week and we get to enjoy him being home
for 4 weeks in a row! So, yesterday, we took a hike near our home. Here's Luke lounging on a rock. It's like Christmas having Daddy home during the day.


Here's Paul with a wildflower. (It turns out we weren't supposed to pick the wildflowers.) We wanted to gather a good collection for later identification.


Here's Sammy riding in style!


I was watching for butterflies too. Luke will have to identify this one for me.

We tried to find out what kind of flower this is, but it wasn't in our Colorado wildflower guide.

Here's the bouquet of wildflowers we shouldn't have picked!

Luke and Sammy sitting in a rock that they pretended was a car or spaceship or a plane. I was there too, but just behind the camera!

19 Weeks

Almost half way there!

The Lone Strawberry

Last week, I went outside to check on my strawberry plants. I had one strawberry and it finally ripened to a nice red. I took a picture of my one little tiny strawberry and walked away, but not a few minutes later I decided I'd go and pick that strawberry. So, I went back out on the deck and the strawberry was gone! I suspect some squirrel ate it. He must have waited patiently until it ripened and he saw his chance while I put my camera away. Well, one strawberry wasn't enough for my jam plan anyway!

Happy 4th of July!

The Sleeping Patriot